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Maria Diaz/ZDNET Apple Home is finally compatible with robot vacuums, thanks to multiple upgrades — from Apple, Matter, and robot manufacturers. Apple released iOS 18.4 last week, which includes support for robot vacuums via the Home app. Robot vacuum manufacturers, like iRobot and Roborock, have already released their firmware upgrades for their Matter-compatible robots to support Apple Home. Robot vacuum compatibility for Apple Home was delayed for months after being announced last year as a feature…

ZDNET’s key takeaways Lenovo’s fifth-generation ThinkPad T14s is available now for $2,119. It’s a particularly hardy laptop and boasts solid battery life. However, the Intel chipset delivers puts a cap on high-end performance. more buying choices Lenovo has seven distinct ThinkPad categories on its website, each with a unique style. The T Series, for example, specializes in “highly durable” business laptops with long battery lives. No other model exemplifies this concept than the fifth-generation ThinkPad…

ZDNET’s key takeaways The TCL Tab 10 Nxtpaper 5G is a full-color, color paper, and ink paper tablet available at Verizon for $239. It’s a great entertainment tablet for daily use that also functions very well as an e-reader. Although the screen is versatile, don’t expect the graphics to compare to those on an iPad or other high-end tablets. For a limited time, Verizon is running an offer for the TCL Tab 10 Nxtpaper 5G…

ZDNET’s key takeaways The RayNeo Air 3S is available for $269 These XR glasses provide advanced micro-OLED screens, dual speaker chamber design, and a 201-inch screen visual experience There are no light-blocking shades or electrochromic dimming capability, and productivity support is limited to native MacOS and Windows support. Just about every person to whom I demonstrate XR glasses ends up buying a pair for airline travel, commuting, and Nintendo Switch gaming away from the TV…

LagartoFilm/Getty Images It’s a jungle out there. And by “out there,” I mean in the online world, where scams, data breaches, and outright thievery are depressing facts of life. For those with a reasonable technical background, spotting the markers of an online attack is usually easy. But if you’re like me, you probably have a thriving network of friends and family members who have never developed those skills and are about one click away from…

rob dobi/Getty Images When you think of phishing emails, you probably think of the crude, grammatically flawed, easy-to-spot samples that go straight to your junk folder. I regret to inform you that those weak “spray and pray” campaigns are yesterday’s news. The crooks haven’t gotten smarter, but their tools have. Also: I clicked on four sneaky online scams on purpose – to show you how they work With the help of generative AI, online scammers…

Jean-Luc Ichard/Getty Images I know you’ve heard of gamification, but have you ever heard of festification? That’s what Microsoft will be doing in April and May, with the Microsoft AI Skills Fest. It’s a little odd, but it also looks like it might be a heck of a lot of fun. Also: Microsoft at 50: Its incredible rise, 15 lost years, and stunning comeback – in 4 charts I’ve written a lot about Microsoft over…

Just_Super/Getty Images Nearly 80 years ago, in July 1945, MH Hasham Premji founded Western India Vegetable Products Limited in Amalner, a town in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, India, located on the banks of the Bori River. The company began as a manufacturer of cooking oils. In the 1970s, the company pivoted to IT and changed its name to Wipro. Over the years, it has grown to become one of India’s biggest tech companies, with…

Kerry Wan/ZDNET In the age of smart TVs, convenience is king. With just a few clicks, we can dive into endless entertainment — but that ease comes with a downside: the buildup of cache data. Also: 5 easy ways to instantly improve your soundbar’s audio (without spending a dime) Just like on your phone or computer, a cluttered TV cache can lead to sluggish performance, app crashes, and even hinder new content from loading properly….

Kerry Wan/ZDNET One reason why the Pixel phones are so popular is the camera. There’s a depth, a level of clarity, and brilliant/accurate colors that most phone cameras cannot match. Also: If you’re planning to upgrade your electronics, you might want to buy them now – here’s why Google is always trying to one-up itself by improving the Pixel camera with every iteration. Back with the Pixel 8, Google introduced the P3 wide gamut capture…